"It wasn't an issue of, 'I want bad things to happen to her because she's a homophobe,'" Lawless conveys of the curse she and 10 fellow gay pagans enacted. "It was like we need to defend ourselves and our community . . . I remember reading the next month that she made herself so unpopular with her homophobic crusade that she was reduced to panhandling at revivals."

Ironically, Savage is, like Bryant was in the day, known as an A-1 gay-basher. But this doesn't bother Lawless too much. She pretty much picks and chooses what she wants from Savage's ideological cafeteria.

"When he goes off on his homophobic rants, and he talks about how gays are perverts and stuff like that, and how we're destroying society, I just have to turn him off," Lawless relates. "And if I don't turn the radio off, I turn him off in my head until he starts to say something interesting."

Lawless barbarian: Like her heroine, Xena (played by Lucy Lawless), Laine Lawless sees herself as a fierce warrior who fears no male.

"She's nice looking, I'd take her," Lawless avows of her enemy, Derechos Humanos co-chair Isabel Garcia, seen here in a scene from Lawless' homemade doc How to Burn a Mexican Flag.

Taking Savage's orders on flag-flaming has led Lawless to the unique position of being vilified by members of both the left and the right. In her documentary, she discusses at length how various social agencies and gay-friendly groups will have nothing to do with her anymore. She complains about how one far-left pro-immigrant news organization "outed" her as a lesbian and a pagan in the movement, "which I don't really believe to be relevant to my political activities." And even pagans have problems accepting her. For instance, one female shaman refused to do "journeying"  a practice that involves a trance-like state in which one can summon guides from the spirit world  with Lawless after learning of her flag burning.

Lawless seems genuinely disappointed by such personal consequences of her anti-Mexican activism. Yet, she saves her most vicious words for the gay community.

"They're all brainwashed communists in one way or another," she states. "Liberals, socialists, or outright communists. I have a friend who's a communist, who's a lesbian, who won't speak to me anymore since I burned the Mexican flag. I've tried e-mailing her. I made jokes about it, like, 'If you're dead, can you just call me and let me know?'"

It's not just pagans and liberals who want to keep Lawless at arm's length. Other anti-illegal-immigration activists are quick to distance themselves from Lawless' antics, however gently. Lawless' friend Yeh Ling-Ling, director of the Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America, is one. As a naturalized, Vietnam-born U.S. citizen of Chinese descent, Ling-Ling is a star in a movement that relishes any non-Caucasian as a participant. Ling-Ling came down from Oakland to be at a Freedom Riders protest at the Sandra Day O'Connor U.S. Courthouse in downtown Phoenix on January 13. Freedom Riders is an anti-immigrant motorcycle group, and the protest was in support of two Border Patrol agents who the anti-immigrant movement believes were railroaded over the shooting of a drug smuggler in Texas.

Lawless showed for the protest, of course, carrying a Mexican flag  which she merely stood on and spat at instead of setting afire. She bitched about not being asked to speak, and blamed this on her nemesis, Chris Simcox, who was present. But even Ling-Ling, who seemed happy to see her, and lunched with her later in the day, couldn't totally get with Lawless' whole flag-burning deal, though she did offer a rationalization.

"I understand her anger," proffered the petite Asian activist. "I wouldn't do such a thing myself. Many Mexican radicals have said, 'The U.S. is our land, this is stolen land.' So you can see why some Americans are very angry, and to express their extreme anger, since our federal government is not responding, they have to resort to this kind of action."

Chris Simcox of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps is more direct in his criticism of Lawless, reflecting a war of words between the two militants that's been ongoing for some time now. Simcox scoffs at Lawless' flag burnings as pure publicity stunts.

"It's bringing attention to yourself," he asserts. "P.T. Barnum would be proud of people like that. It creates a sideshow which does nothing to advance our cause. All it does is taint us negatively . . . We just want the borders secure and the laws enforced."

Lawless decries Simcox's Minutemen as wimps who've gone soft, been bought off, and will not engage the movement's enemies in battle. Whenever Mexicans take to the streets, "We'll burn a Mexican flag," she promises, although she admits that her Border Guardians group does not keep a membership list, and that, basically, she is Border Guardians, plus the 30 or so associates she can call on at any given time. Yet, the double-edged sword of her flag burning has marginalized her at the same time that it's made her more prominent. Nowhere is this more evident than in her battles with the Southern Poverty Law Center, the most dogged of anti-racist organizations in America.

Based in Montgomery, Alabama, the SPLC is perhaps best known for its battles with the Ku Klux Klan, but the nonprofit civil rights organization keeps a close eye on all suspected racist and hate groups, including those agitating against Mexican immigration along the border.

YOU GUYS ARE TOTAL PRICKS MEXICO IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE AND MEXICAN PEOPLE ARE THE NICEST PEOPLE WITH RICH MORALS AND SELF RESPECT. AMERICANS OFFLOAD THEIR 70YR OLD PARENTS TO A SENIOR HOME VISIT THEM ONCE A YR MEXICANS STICK TOGETHER.. TILL DEATH DO US PART..

YOU RACIST PRICKS YOUR JUST MAD CAUSE WE DOMINATED YOUR LANGUAGE. EVERY RACE HAS A FLAW

100% PROUD MEXICAN AMERICAN ATTENDING UCSF MAJORING IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS. ALREADY HAVE A JOB LINED UP AFTER MY INTERNSHIP MAKING 120K A YR

So much ado about some irrelevant racist skank who's able to figure out how to operate a butane lighter all on her own. Other than the opposable thumb, what else you got that makes you worth your 15 minutes? I ain't reading this either.

Why is it when Mexicans march in this country carring their flag, it isn't seen as a racist move. As one American, I am sick of seeing my country distroyed by illegal immagation, even the legal immagration is flawed. Ask my ex husband who imported a family only to be used for the money he could provide. As taxpayer, we will continue to pay for his mistake in benefits offered to his immagrant family. American taxpayer will pay for his kids to go to school with assistance fromt he VA even after the marriage end. I say more of us should be standing up and burning forgien flags as they seek to over run us and we are to stupid to see it. You congress people don't obey the laws they pass and yet you do nothing. This country has become so sad. I suggest ou all go watch you mind control TV's as you have all lost you ability to think for yourshelf.

"This is our land. We have always lived here and will always do so. We didnt cross the border, it crossed us."1. Lie. It belonged to the Indians first if you want to be technical about it.2. It was a sh**hole until AMERICANS made it the civilization that it is today.3. Mexicans do nothing but talk sh*t about America, and yet, they seem in a hurry to get here.BTW, I'm half Mexican by decent. But I'm 100% American and I don't wave the Mexican flag around. I think I'll take America over all of the other crummy countries in the world.

I met Laine Lawless once and I agree; in real life she's nothing like this article portrays. She is indeed unique. Outspoken? Definitely! Racist? I found none of that. Sense of humor? Absolutely. For shame on the author - he must be just another yellow jounalist hack.

EVERYONE in the western hemisphere is an immigrant - no one - not even American Indians are native to these continents. The "Go back to Europe" taunts only broadcast the abysmal ignorance of those who make them.

If you're here legally - then WELCOME!!If you overstayed your visa or crossed our southern border illegally - then find the cajones to go back and address your own governments. It's no secret that Mexico, in particular, treats the majority of its people poorly. It's a wealthy country, rich in natural resources and it is downright criminal that the the small ruling majority only enriches itself. Why doesn't this paper, or the media in general, adress that????

It certainly doesn't bode well for the future of the US that the majority of those here illegally are faint-hearted individuals who took the easy way out - crossing the border rather than standing up and demanding change in their homelands. Bottom line: When the going got tough - they cut and ran.

I have yet to see a white female--much less a lesbian--take such a politically incorrect stance. The white females I see are pro-immigration, pro-government, pro-whatever they see as chic and left-wing. And the lesbians I have encountered have been the most left-wing of all and did nothing more than rant against white males and western civilization. Nice to see there is is one decent white woman out there--I commend her for her guts. She does indeed have more kojones than most of the sorry white males in this country. Go get 'em, lady.

But it is through legal immigration that the United States has people from India, China, Korea, Russia, Mexico, Peru, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Uganda, Sweden, England, etc. among its citizens. We call this diversity.

Now if a reporter interviews the publicist for meatpacking corporations on the issue of undocumented illegal immigrants, the publicist will tell us unapologetically that what is good for corporate profits is good for the United States. These corporations have no interest in African refugees learning English because permitted workers and citizens are not so disposable. Somehow this perspective of corporate profits first is called �anti-racist� and �pro-immigration� when diversity is irrelevant to these employers and U.S. citizenship of their workers is clearly not desired.

Shall we then ask the corporate publicist his preferences on sex, TV shows and fine wines to ridicule his class background and pathologize the politics of his statement? Shall we ask this of Isabel Garcia or the Ambassador from Mexico?

The angle of this article is to claim that credible activists need vetted credentials to represent powerful blocks and paying constituencies, and the ridiculous little people who live in the United States legally are irrelevant to democracy. After all, this kind of vetted democracy obviously works well in Russia and China where the rule of law is arbitrary and the average person lives on less than $100 per month. Not a situation I aspire, Phoenix New Times.

Your jaundiced view of Laine Lawless is appalling. Iknow her, and she is not the person you havedescribed. Would it have stopped your (newspaper)circulation to have said anything positive or truthfulabout her? But of course, that wasn't your agenda!

I FEEL SORRY FOR HER-HIM,I THINK SHE HATES EVERYBODY, NOT ONLY MEXICANS, ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS IS AN AMERICAN , UN G�RO, SHE SHOULD FIND A LATIN FRIEND TO BE ABLE TO SPEAK ABOUT US.THANKS AND GOD BLESS MEXICO AND THE USA, OL�!!!

Thank you for stirring up hatred against patriotic Americans with your lying, slanted "profile" on me. The power of the press to influence the ignorant is wonderfully illustrated by the hateful comments here. This article no more reflects who I am than a drive-by photo of me bending over would, yet it purports to be "in-depth." Anything POSITIVE or GOOD that I said to Steve, which would reflect well on me (85% of our conversations), never made it into print. He lied like a rug on this one, making up things and emotions that never existed, over-emphasizing everything he could for the purposes of making me alook like a crackpot. My own friends couldn't even recognize me! If there's a hell for yellow journalists like him, he'll be going there for his afterlife.

She sounds like she is a total wacko, but what the heck. Other people spout off their opinions of the gringos and the rest of America just takes it because "we should be so nice to everyone". Ha.......! If we have to listen to the anti-American opinions, then everyone should hear the pro-American opinion.

While I respect Laine Lawless' right to free speech, her burning of the Mexican flag is both disgusting and pathetic. She is no better than the despicable human beings that burn the American flag. She presents as nothing more than a self absorbed, hate mongering hypocrite. If she is the face and the voice of the anti-immigration movement, I'm jumping to the other side.

What she should be protesting is any and all Arizona based companies that hire illegal aliens. Make it EXTREMELY costly in fines and jail time for anyone found hiring illegals, then ship them back to Mejico, and send them the bill

All of this "anti-immigration" crap is just an excuse to be racist. And is she that ignorant to believe that every "illegal" is Mexican? And from what I remember correctly, white people killed entire nations of native Americans when they came here, so I don't think she's rightfully here either. Well, it's pointless to argue with white trash mullet heads...too bad she didn't live in the time when they burned witches.

Let me see if I have this straight � a wandering bored Lesbian who fantasizes about being Xena finds her mission in life in Arizona by helping oppress illegal Mexicans!? She could have saved herself a lot of trouble by getting more psychoanalysis at an earlier age to help her constructively channel all that trapped male energy. By aligning herself with the agents of hate, ignorance and intolerance (surprisingly some of the same groups that would have her kind and mine wiped off the planet) the true nature of Ms Dill is revealed. Can you say irony?

BTW who is this Rusty Childress and are any of his employees Hispanic? Are they there to clean up after his Thursday Mexi-bash get togethers? Have any of his dealerships sold cars to illegal Mexicans? Perhaps he can refund their money if he hates them so much.

I think that this article is the most ignorant peaice of litriture that i have ever read. This bitch needs to realize that we are in the 21st centuary and she needs to deal with a diverse culture. It is very hipocriticle of her being that she is a lesbian to stand out how she does and and still be out and proud.... id like to see her burn a mexican flag in front of me..... I would also like to see her reaction when i burn a gay pride flag, get a life and understand that us "illigal imagrants" are never going any were, we are here to stay...and not all imigrants in the country are Mexican we are of all races so get your facts straight and if your going to protest something than do it properly, just realize youll never win this battle!!!!!!

This is our land. We have always lived here and will always do so. We didnt cross the border, it crossed us. You blame the people, blame the government of your so called soverign nation instead. Who's next? Should we send all the African Americans back to Africa as well??? How bout the Itlaians? Asians? You think that tax paying immigrants are leading us to economic ruin? Try the head of state of your soverign nation who does not care for the right of women to choose, much less the rights of mouthy dykes. I can understand why the article has been published, if not for shock value, then to portray multiple sides to every story. I also understand the moral obligation of a widely read and distributed publication to educate and empower its readers. This article, however enraging, is more disheartening than anything else. For the people who believe the injustices they have been told and continue to tell themselves, as well as the spineless editors who believe there is some value to this sort of garbage.

This woman is an absolute joke. Does she really believe she and her forefathers are natives? There will always be someone opposing immigration as there was early this century, against Germans, Italians, Irish, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Asians, the list goes on and on. We must understand first hand that unless you are a Native American, you too come from immigrants. The Natives never handed out visas to your ancestors, right. This woman hates Mexicans, not only illegal, but every Mexican. I am sure she hates other minorities as well, but for now she concentrates on the Mexican race. Who knows which race will be next. I have to laugh at such individuals (extremists-fanatics). They don't want peace, ever. But this nation is changing drastically, who ever opposes, will break themselves against it. For this is the nation of all creeds and colors, not just white. If you don't like it, go back to Europe, build the Mayflower II and head off to start your own country, get out of mine.

Fascinating story. And the border issue has many different facets. It's not a cut-and-dried Bushism such as "If you're not with us, you're for the [insert enemy-du-jour here]" at all. And how can we decide for ourselves where we stand, if we cannot examine others' strong opinions?

Somebody ought to put a hex on this weirdo. And, can't anyone let this Anita Bryant thing go? Here's a woman who "got involved" in something for a so-called friend, and wound up with the media ruining her career. How about doing a nice article on Anita and what she's gone through? Afterall, doesn't she deserve some good publicity?

I don't see the media turning their backs on the child molester - Michael Jackson!!!